


you were made of matches

by aryagndry



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, also theres gonna be minor theon/sansa, and the other characters listed are mainly background in the social media part, hope u all enjoy, sorry if it sucks, this is gonna be multichaptered by the way, this is my first ever fic lmao, yes the title is from matches by cash cash bc it inspired the fic mao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 09:03:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20672780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryagndry/pseuds/aryagndry
Summary: “So, like, Arya… are we gonna talk about it?”“Talk about how you’re leaving forever in a week and I’m gonna be stuck here getting ice cream all alone for the next two years? No, I don’t particularly want to talk about that.” Okay, maybe that was a little too harsh, but the point still rings true: she really doesn’t want to talk about this, no.--basically, gendry goes to college and they grapple with the change in their dynamics because of it and oh also their feelings but these idiots are too dumb to tell each other. multichaptered





	you were made of matches

**sansa: did you tell him ** **👀**

_srry new phone who dis_

**sansa: ok but consider this: tell him**

_bold to assume i know who u r_

**sansa: arya. **

_whos arya_

**sansa: you. now can we get back on topic**

_a girl has no name _

**sansa: and that jaquen shit is where this convo ends. tell gendry before he leaves. **

* * *

“So, like, Arya… are we gonna talk about it?”

“About what?” Arya asked, expertly avoiding Gendry’s eyes in favor of the very interesting coffee stain on her copy of ESPN’s edition on Winterfell Direwolves’ winning the Westerosi Cup (during which Gendry embarrassingly cheered for the Dragons, but, y’know, everyone has their flaws).

“Arya, don’t… don’t do that. I feel like we should talk about it. Don’t you want to talk about it?”

They were sitting in his truck, his 2003 Toyota Tacoma to be precise, and yes, she knew exactly what he was referring to. That didn’t mean she had any particular inclination to talk about it, however. So Gendry was leaving for Kings Landing University in a week. So she wasn’t going to see him again for another three months after seeing him every day for like ten years now. So he was going to move on with his life and completely, utterly forget about her. So what? 

Alright, she knew that wasn’t true. She knew Gendry wouldn’t forget about her, but it just seemed so much like the end of an era, and avoiding and suppressing her issues has always been her preferred coping mechanism; Gendry wasn’t going to change that, no matter how much she’ll miss him.

Complicating the whole issue, the issue of “my best friend is leaving for college halfway across the country and I’m stuck here for another two years,” is the additional issue of Arya very recently discovering that she might just be a little bit, only a tad, completely, head over heels in love with Gendry.

So, there’s a lot that she’s repressing at the moment, and she doesn’t very much appreciate Gendry bringing it all up to complicate the issue even further.

“Talk about how you’re leaving forever in a week and I’m gonna be stuck here getting ice cream all alone for the next two years? No, I don’t particularly want to talk about that.” Okay, maybe that was a little too harsh, but the point still rings true: she really doesn’t want to talk about this, no.

“Arya, look, I know you. I know you hate to admit it, but I probably know you better than you know yourself, right?” Gendry says, smiling down at her in that way that makes her heart flutter as if she were a character in one of Sansa’s stories from when they were kids. Pathetic. She begrudgingly nods anyways. “So I know you don’t want to think about how I’m leaving and I know you’re probably lowkey thinking everything’s gonna change. And some stuff will definitely change, like the fact that you won’t be able to annoyingly distract me from work and get me in trouble with Mott for the millionth time in a week. But you and I never will, okay? Arya and Gendry, us two idiots, trying to stumble through life, together. Even if I’m a couple hundred miles away. And I’ll facetime you every week, okay?” He finishes, his face more emotional than Arya has ever seen it. At some point during this speech she looked up from the coffee stain and made the mistake of looking at his eyes and _goddammit they’re blue. _She’s more emotional than she’ll ever admit, but she needed that, needed to hear it. Gendry always somehow knows what she needs to hear.

“Of course nothing will change between us, stupid. Even if you’re a million miles away I’m sure I’ll still be saving your ass in one way or another.”

* * *

Actually saying goodbye to Gendry was somehow both harder and much less eventful than she expected. There were no grand gestures or declarations of undying love on her part, and she expected none on his. There was just a lot of watery eyes and avoidance.

“Call you every week, yeah?”

“You better, or I’ll have to fly to King’s Landing myself to beat you up”

“See now you’re just giving me incentive to not call you. Already looking for a way to get you down there, Stark”

“You wish, Waters.” And that was the last she said to him, giving him one massive hug before he got in the car. It sucked, she realized, saying goodbye. Saying bye to her brothers when they left was never quite like this, and she can’t really put her finger on why.

* * *

**aryastark posted on Instagram: **saying goodbye to this idiot. i guess I’ll maybe just possibly wish him luck on his new endeavors.

**sansastark, jonsnow, and 1.3 million others liked this**

**sansastark commented: **omg… this is the nicest thing you’ve said to anyone, ever

**jonsnow commented: **you’re telling me gendry gets this heartfelt caption and i, your “best brother,” get a “fuck off loser lmao” in an Instagram STORY (not even a post!) when I leave?

**aryastark replied: **can you be dark and moody somewhere that’s not my comment section

**brantheraven commented: **lmao just wait till you see what happens next

**aryastark replied: **why are you so fucking creepy bro

**gendrybodysofwaters commented: **<3333

**aryastark replied: **fuk u come back

* * *

Gendry actually being at college was weird. They still talked every day, and he kept up on his part of facetiming every week, but it was weird. Weird to see him with new friends, weird to see him in a new place, weird to see him without her.

Even weirder than Gendry without her was Winterfell without Gendry. Winterfell was nice, has always been nice. It’s the only place that treats her as just Arya, not _Arya Stark. _It’s the only place she can go without paparazzi hounding her, the only place where the people don’t care if she walks around in ripped jeans and a dirty t-shirt—she’s been doing it since she was six, it’s not going to change now.

So while Winterfell is still nice, notably nicer than anywhere else she’s been, it’s considerably less so without Gendry. She misses sitting in Motts with him as he works, misses getting ice cream after school, misses him. It’s a weird adjustment.

* * *

**gendry: I misx yo u**

_I miss you too_

_are you drunk_

**gendry: …maube**

_lmao_

**gendry: come visti **

_I want to_

_ask me again when youre sober tho_

* * *

“Come on. Come visit. I’m a month into school, I’m in the groove of things, and also I miss you”

“I want to, I do, it just…” She picks at a loose thread on her sweater, trying to think of a good enough excuse. “just, you know, everything going on with Bran lately, I feel like I’m needed at home” It was true enough; they were renovating a side of the house, and the wheelchair accessible elevator they installed after the accident happens to be on that side. So Bran _does _need more help, but also, he wouldn’t care in the slightest if Arya went down to visit Gendry. He’d probably encourage it.

It’s not that she doesn’t want to see Gendry—she does, more than anything—it’s that she doesn’t want to see what Gendry’s life is like without her. She’s happy for him, she really is; he seems to be having a great time, made some great friends, you know, the whole college thing. But what if his friends don’t like her? What if she visits him and he realizes he can do a lot better for a best friend than a high school student two years younger than him? She doesn’t want him to realize all that just yet.

“Yeah, no, I get it. I just miss you, yeah? You’ve gotta come down at some point. There are so many people I want to introduce you to.” He sounds excited, and Arya feels bad letting him down, so she doesn’t.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll come down. I promise”

* * *

  
**gendrybodysofwaters posted on Instagram: **who let this high schooler in someone take her back

**brantheraven, robbstark, and 1,353 others liked this**

**robbstark commented: **m8 I s2g if Anything happens to my sister down there… you won’t see the light of day

**gendrybodyofwaters replied: **we both know she’d beat me up first but fair point

**aryastark replied: **I can handle myself robb but ok

**aryastark commented: **h8 u </3

* * *

Okay, she broke down. She’s never been good at saying no to Gendry for long, it’s those damn puppy dog eyes. So here she is, sitting on the floor of his college dorm room, pre-gaming with his friends before a party. She’s a couple shots in and starting to feel it, but she’d never tell Gendry that—she has to keep up the notion that she could drink him under the table.

“How you feeling, Stark?” He yells over the music playing in the room, smiling down at her from his spot sitting on the bed.

“Loads better than you, Waters.” She smiles back. 

* * *

They’re at the actual party now, and it’s stuffy and held in a broken-down frat house, but that’s to expect at these things. She lost track of Gendry about an hour ago and her vision is still fuzzy, and she doesn’t really know what time it is, but she knows she wants to find Gendry and get out of there. It’s too hot. Way too hot.

Suddenly, someone touches her butt. She whips around, and some guy she doesn’t know and never seen, grabbed her ass. She doesn’t like it, and she wants to leave, and just as she’s about to punch the guy in the face, someone beats her to it. She looks up and it’s Gendry.

“Don’t. Fucking. Touch. Her.” Arya’s never seen Gendry this angry before. His face is flushed red and he’s almost seething, and he’s about to punch the guy again when Arya stops him.

“I could have handled that, you know. I’m fine, alright? Let’s go outside.”

* * *

It’s cold outside, but Arya likes it; plus, Gendry gave her his jacket.

“Look, I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have come here, I’m sorry, that’s on me. God, Arya, have I mentioned that I’m sorry?”

“I think you may have said something along those lines. Look, Gendry, I’m _fine. _The guy was a grade-A creep, for sure, but it’s nothing I couldn’t have handled. Don’t apologize, I’m fine.” It was odd to see Gendry this worked up. He’s stubborn, yeah, but she could count on one hand that amount of times she’s ever seen Gendry truly mad. She sighs and leans against the cool brick of the house.

“I know you could have handled it, and you probably would have done better than me. But, like, you’re my best friend, yeah? The most important person in my life and I just. I-“ He takes a step forward, pressing his hand against the wall above her head. “I’m the one who invited you down here, and I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you. I just, I don’t think you know how much I-“ He was rambling now, and Arya thought it best to stop it before he spiraled.

“I get it, Gendry. You’re the most important person in my life, too. Don’t worry about the whole thing, okay?” He brought his hand to tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, his other hand still resting on the wall. His hand slid down to hold the nape of her neck and _God, have his eyes always been that blue? _It might be the alcohol talking, but Arya could have sworn his eyes flickered down to her lips. Then he brought his eyes up to hers again, and they just looked at each other, his hand still resting on her neck. He started to lean in, eyes closed, and--

“Hey, any of you guys seen Edric?” They jumped apart, faster than either thought possible.

“No, I, uh, haven’t seen him, mate. Maybe he went back to the dorm.” Gendry replied, cheeks burning. He looked at Arya. “We should probably head back in, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

They didn’t talk about it for almost two years.

* * *

** **

**theongreyjoy posted on Instagram: **m8s nite, eh?

**aryastark, sansastark, and 36,576 others liked this**

**sansastark commented: **<3 my man

**gendrybodysofwaters commented: **you did me dirty with this photo, mate

**aryastark commented: **wtf this is MY best friend. who do u think u r

**jonsnow replied: **guys when are we gonna break it to her that we’ve been friends with gendry for longer

**theongreyjoy replied: **do you ?? own him ???

**aryastark replied: **yes

**gendrybodysofwaters replied: **yes


End file.
